


loud, so everyone can hear

by respoftw



Series: 35 Ways To Say I Love You In The Pegasus Galaxy [15]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Happy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 09:08:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8050462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: Ways to say "I love you" #15
John makes a city wide announcement.





	loud, so everyone can hear

Woolsey liked to make the announcements.  All of them.  Each monthly dial in from Earth was usually followed by at least a half hour of Woolsey’s voice filling the corridors of the city, updating them all in on the pertinent information, from the latest news on the  _ Destiny _ to which film was top of the box office and how soon they could expect a copy of it to make its way to the Pegasus Galaxy.  It was actually one of the things John liked about him the best.  Elizabeth had never let him away with begging off from doing his share, always insisting that any city wide military announcements be given by John, and any scientific announcements by Rodney.

Come to think of it, maybe the best thing about Woolsey insisting on reading them out himself was not having to listen to Rodney turn the science announcements into twenty minute long eviscerations of the latest scientific paper du jour that had been sent over to them by the SGC.

At least when John was subjected to those rants face to face he could sometimes get away with employing tactical maneuvers that had the potential to derail Rodney’s train of thought completely.

Not to mention that Woolsey’s droning and the slumped shoulders it usually produced in the soldiers and scientists alike was a great opportunity to catch up on his back swing.

Getting called into Woolsey’s office and being asked to take over the tannoy duties that week was more than a little out of the ordinary.

“But, why?” he asked, aware that he was perilously close to whining.

“Believe me, Colonel, I think you’ll understand when you see the highlights.”  Woolsey looked irritatingly smug and John raised his eyebrow, fully prepared to be as unimpressed and unfazed as his reputation expected; at least right up until he cast his eye down the transmission and damn near choked on the oxygen in the room.

Woolsey’s eyes twinkled behind his glasses.  “I thought you might be interested in this,” he smiled.

John coughed, trying to clear the air in his throat and pull himself together.  “Why would you think that I - - “

“John,” Woolsey stopped him with a hand on his arm, “this is wonderful news.  For all of us.”  

John ducked his head and tried to breathe through the knee jerk panic.

“Would you like to do the honours?” Woolsey asked.

He nodded, standing up and shaking his limbs out, readying himself for the words that he never believed he would ever get to hear, never mind say.

John followed Woolsey out into the main control room and tried to ignore the curious stares from the control staff.  He barely registered Woolsey talking over the city wide system, his mind too busy trying to rewrite twenty years of conditioning to hear the excited murmurs about the new Tron movie that would be included in the next data burst.

“And, now, I would like to turn the announcement over to Lt. Colonel Sheppard for a very special piece of news.  Colonel?”

Hearing his name jolted John out of his thoughts and he smiled weakly at Woolsey.  He cleared his throat one last time before flicking his radio to city wide and changing his entire life.

“Thank you, Mr Woolsey,” he said.  Confident that his voice wasn’t wavering, John continued.  “It is my..pleasure seems too little a word for it, but it’s my pleasure to tell you all that on December 22nd, a new law was signed in by the President.  A law that repeals one of the more outdated parts of the military code.”

There were hushed whispers around the control room now and John could see a hopeful exchanged glance between two of the marines who had paused to listen.  It bolstered him, made him stand a little straighter, speak a little louder.

“The process for implementing a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has begun.  The SGC and the IOA have taken the view that this will be effective for all staff immediately.”  

The hushed whispers had matured into excited chatter now and John breathed in deeply as he watched the two marines he had noticed earlier break out into wide grins before one of them, Sgt Ruiz he thought, pulled the other into a tight embrace.

John’s chest felt light at the sight of it, weightless.  He could hear the smile in his voice as he began speaking again.  He could do this now, he was  _ going _ to do this.

“I know that you’ll all be supportive of any members of this base who choose to exact their right to serve freely, just as they are.”  John saw more than one watery eye as he looked around the room and smiled even wider.  He took a deep breath and nodded at a proud looking Woolsey.  “My name is Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and I am a gay man serving freely in the United States Air Force.  Enjoy the rest of your day.”

He signed off and the noise in the room reached deafening levels as spontaneous applause rang out amongst the gathered crowd.  John laughed, his real laugh, the one that Rodney made him sound like an elderly muppet but he didn’t care.  He’d never felt so damn free.

He caught sight of Rodney just then, flushed and breathing heavily, having clearly just ran from whichever part of Atlantis he had been working in to reach the control room.  John smiled across the room at him and flicked his radio on again.

“Me again,” he said on the city wide setting.  “Just one more thing.  I, John Sheppard, am madly in love with one Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay PhD, PhD.  What do you say, Rodney, want to make it official?”

Never let it be said that Rodney wasn’t equally as adept at employing tactical maneuvers that had the potential to shut John up completely.

Kissing the man he loved in full view of everyone, not caring who saw, unafraid and free, was the happiest John had felt since some clown in an orange fleece had asked him to imagine where they were in the universe.

Maybe doing the monthly announcements wasn’t such a bad job after all.

**Author's Note:**

> So, my last few have been a bit angtsy.....hopefully this makes up for it?
> 
> As always, you can find me on [Tumblr](http://buffycuddlespigs.tumblr.com)


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